Iraq plans to boost oil exports by 5%

Iraq is planning to increase its oil exports by 5 percent to 150,000 barrels a day this week, following an agreement to resume shipments from three oil fields in Kirkuk, a government official told Bloomberg on Sunday.

Fouad Hussein, a member of the oil and energy committee of the Kirkuk provincial council, explained that operations at the fields had already begun with test pumping, which amounted to 70,000 barrels per day as of last week.

Hussein described the recent developments as “a good step and significant initiative to strengthen relations between KRG and the federal government.”

The Baba Gorgor, Jambour and Khabbaz oil fields are operated by the state-run Northern Oil Co. (NOC), but their route to market runs through Kurdistan Regional Government territory. NOC had halted exports from those fields in March after a payment dispute.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi ordered the oil ministry to resume oil pumping into the Kurdish pipeline to Ceyhan, Turkey, to boost state revenue, Iraq’s deputy oil minister Fayyad Al-Nima said last week.

Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest producer after Saudi Arabia, exported 3.71 million barrels a day in July, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).